John McCain's campaign yesterday blamed Barack Obama for Capitol Hill's dramatic rejection of the $700bn bail-out plan, in spite of the fact that less than a third of Republican representatives endorsed the bill against two-thirds of Democrats.

Aides to Mr McCain, who was heavily criticised last week for suspending his presidential campaign, said that only four House Republicans had been in favour of the bail-out before Mr McCain returned to Washington last Thursday compared to the 65 who endorsed it yesterday.